The game of darts, wherein a player throws darts at target areas of a dartboard, is played throughout the world as a competitive contest. The dartboards commonly used in tournament level play are constructed from a penetrable material such as jute, cork, sisal fiber or the like so as to permit the metal point of a typical dart to pierce the board and be held in place by the board material. The target surface of such tournament level dartboards often incorporate a plurality of metal ribs, which are used to define the limits of various target areas on the dartboard. The metal ribs are commonly fabricated from steel wire of a diameter between one and two millimeters. Typically a dartboard is divided into twenty equal pie-shaped areas and include a plurality of concentric rings, which are superimposed across the pie-shaped areas. Both the concentric rings and the edges of the pie-shaped areas are formed from the metal ribs. As such, a significant portion of the dartboard is covered by the metal ribs. Hence, players often strike a metal rib with darts during the course of play. The contact of the dart point against the metal rib causes the dart to bounce off the board and fall to the ground. Consequently, the dart point, barrel, or flight elements of the dart may be damaged, and the player receives no points for the "bounce-out".
The prior art has addressed the problem of darts bouncing off the metal ribs of a dartboard by providing darts having a rigid metal dart point connected to the dart barrel in a flexible manner. In such prior art darts, a metal dart tip may be affixed to a dart barrel within a base of elastomeric material, thereby allowing the metal dart point to move relative the dart barrel. Similarly, in the prior art, springs have been used to connect metal dart points to dart barrels, thereby providing flexibility to the dart point. An example of a prior art dart having such features is shown in U.S. Pat. NO. 4,101,126 to Kurtz et al. entitled GAME DARTS AND DARTBOARDS EMPLOYING ANTI-BOUNCE-OFF APPARATUS and assigned to Kulite Tungsten Corporation, the assignee herein.
Prior art darts that utilize elastomeric materials or springs in association with metal points allow the dart point of the dart to axially deform relative to the dart barrel when the dart point strikes a metal rib on a dartboard. The deflection of the dart point enables it to circumvent the contacted metal rib and engage the dartboard material at the side of the metal rib. However, in using such prior art darts, the metal dart points must be affixed to either a spring, a base of elastomeric material, or flexible support. Such assemblies require specialized dart barrels that are adapted to properly receive the spring or elastomeric material. Since the metal dart points of many prior art darts are mounted within a base of elastomeric material or are mounted to springs, the dart points of such prior art darts are often not free to rotate independently of the dart barrel to which they are attached. When a dart is thrown, the spin of the thrower's hand and/or the orientation of the flight elements on the dart often cause the dart to spin during its flight. As such, there exists a torsional momentum in the dart point as it strikes the dartboard. If the dart point strikes a metal rib on the dartboard, the torsional momentum causes the dart point to attempt to bore into the metal rib. As such, the torsional momentum contained within the thrown dart counteracts the ability of the dart point to deflect and circumvent a contacted metal rib.
In the prior art, there also exists examples of darts formed with dart points of soft material such as plastic and are therefore considered "flexible". Plastic point darts are used primarily for electronic dart games, where those boards are not bristle and have a plurality of apertures. Plastic point darts are often manufactured with points that are shorter and thicker than conventional metal points, thereby helping the plastic point to better withstand forces incurred during the game of darts. Prior art plastic point darts have many disadvantages when compared to conventional metal pointed darts. Since darts with plastic points tend to have shorter and thicker point configurations, such plastic point darts can not form as tight of a grouping on the dartboard during the game of darts. Plastic point darts tend to break during play. Plastic pointed darts also bend easily causing the dart point not to remain concentric with dart barrel. Additionally, darts with plastic points tend to wiggle or shake immediately proceeding contact with the dartboard, as the weight of the dart barrel becomes supported by the plastic point. The wiggle of the plastic pointed dart can cause other closely grouped darts to be knocked out of the dartboard.
To reduce the forces incurred by a plastic point, and to reduce the darts tendency to shake on the dartboard, darts with plastic points tend to be manufactured with much lighter dart barrels than are conventional metal pointed darts. Consequently, the advantages of balance and performance achievable through the heavier metal point darts are lost in the prior art embodiments of plastic pointed darts.
It is, therefore, a primary objective of the present invention to provide a dart with a dart point fabricated from a material that is flexible enough to circumvent a contacted metal rib on a dartboard yet is rigid enough to support a conventionally weighted dart barrel without significantly wiggling or shaking upon impact with the dartboard.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a such a dart point having the same length as conventional metal dart points wherein the dart point will remain concentric with the dart barrel and will not bend or break during the course of play or if the dart is dropped onto a hard surface.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide such a dart point in low cost and readily manufacturable manner.